![](\"http:\/\/julietarr.com\/genealogy\/blog\/images\/52-Ancestors-2-Those-Elusive-Germans_1176C\/52AncestorsFB.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Week 3 Prompt:<\/strong> Unusual Name<\/p>\n This week\u2019s 52 Ancestors<\/a> theme is unusual names. I thought I\u2019d focus on one of my German surnames for this theme. A few years ago, I attended the 2016 Jamboree live stream of Fritz Juengling\u2019s lecture “German Names: Their Origins, Meanings and Distribution.\u201d It was extremely fascinating and I got all sorts of ideas.<\/p>\n Some of my German surnames are obvious:<\/p>\n But other surnames are not so obvious. One in particular always stuck out\u2014Wietzke, which is the maiden name of my third great-grandmother Emilie. It sounded Polish to me, which makes sense since this family came from Bernsdorf in Pommern, which was near Poland, and is now part of Poland. I\u2019ve come across various spellings, including: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the records related to Bernsdorf, I\u2019ve also come across several other surnames with the \u201c\u2013ke\u201d suffix, including: Lemke, B\u00f6hnke, Vierke, and Ludke. <\/p>\n I came across an article about the \u201c\u2013ke\u201d suffix in PERSI, and because it was from a publication that had to do with Pommern, I ordered the article through the Allen County Public Library. In the article, the author states: \u201cI concluded\u2026that the \u2013ke is a diminutive suffix and could be of either Saxon or Wendish origin. \u2026 Diminutive in this sense means \u2018little.\u2019\u201d<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n I then found an online article that says that \u201c\u2013ke\u201d is \u201ca Westphalian and Eastphalian diminutive suffix, particularly prevalent in the eastern-most areas near the lands of the Wends and Altmark; thus Lemke, Wilke, Jahnke.\u201d Still confused, I noted the author\u2019s reference to see other suffixes, including \u201c\u2013zke.\u201d This referred me instead to entry for \u201c\u2013ske,\u201d which states: \u201cIn Eastern Pomerania, often substitutes for the Polish \u2013ski particle.\u201d Okay, that made some sense. The author also noted that \u201c\u2013ski\u201d is \u201cfrequently used with a patronymic to denote \u2018son of,\u2019\u201d giving examples, such as Adamski, which would mean son of Adam.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n It made more sense that the suffix for Wietzke was \u201c\u2013zke\u201d as opposed to \u201c\u2013ke.\u201d But if that\u2019s the case, what does the root \u201cWiet\u201d mean? Is it a name (would make sense if the suffix denotes \u201cson of\u201d)? Is it a word? Is it a place? <\/p>\n\n
\n